The Government’s policy of reviving the economy is not a sector based, but a holistic approach to uplift the entire business community, the Senior Advisor on Economic Affairs to the Prime Minister, Ajith Nivard Cabraal told the Sunday Observer.
In addition to several tax reliefs given to the business community, the Government issued directives to Chairmen and CEOs of all banks last week, to suspend recovery of loans up to Rs 300 million obtained by the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).
The former Central Bank Governor said many SMEs are currently struggling due to bad government policies during the past couple of years.
“The Government has taken a decision to take up new initiative to revive SMEs of which outstanding debt not exceeding Rs 300 million in each entity, since recently announced tax reform initiatives provide substantial savings to all banks including the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The Government expects the banks to use part of such savings to revive the SME sector on a priority basis,” the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Policy Development also stated in a press release.Senior Advisor to the PM, Cabraal believes that a stable foundation and sound macroeconomic factors would provide a strong platform to all industries to perform. Plans to boost different sectors individually have to be implemented by different ministries, organisations and private sector companies, he pointed out.
“We believe that we have to look after everybody because otherwise the entire business sector in this country can be at risk. That is why some of these initiatives have been taken to safeguard everyone. Not just one sector,” Cabraal explained.
“Also that is why the taxes are reduced and moratorium has been put in place. Also bringing down interest rates are all part and parcel of this holistic approach,” he said.